Monday, 25 November 2013

TweetLast week’s
announcement of the membership of the board of the Cardiff city region
attracted a lot of attention.In
comparison, the other announcement, made at the same time, of the membership of
the Swansea Bay city region was virtually ignored by the media.It’s another sign of how Cardiff-centric
Welsh politicians and media have become – aping the failings of the UK, of which
so many have been critical in the past.

My view is coloured
of course by the fact that I now, apparently, live in something called a city
region, despite being in a very rural spot miles away from, and having little in
common with, the city of Swansea.And if
it feels like that in the north of Carmarthenshire, I wonder how people in Angle
or Fishguard feel about it.

Still, that’s
all an aside really.What is of interest
for the purposes of this post is who the members are, and how they were
appointed.Remember Labour’s “bonfire of
the quangos”?Well, here they are
setting up two brand new quangos all of whose members are appointed at the whim
of the Minister, and only a minority of whom – in both cases – actually hold
any elected post. It seems that 'the great and the good' of Wales never went away at all.

In theory,
their powers are limited at present; but I wonder for how long that will be the
case.Centralising politicians have
something of a penchant for preferring direct rule by their nominees over the
vagaries of democracy.And in this case,
much of the commentariat seems to be supporting them.

There is
nothing wrong with engaging experts to advise and assist; experience gained
outside politics is often - perhaps even invariably - more valuable than
experience gained within politics.That
is however the reverse of a situation where ‘experts’ oversee and direct the
elected representatives, which is what seems to be developing here.